A number of petroleum, reservoirs naturally contain low salinity water. Additionally low salinity water injection is a technique utilized in secondary and tertiary oil recovery that has been found to increase recovery of oil from the reservoir. This invention relates to the augmentation of the low salinity water injection process, by utilizing nutrient supplementation of resident microorganisms in the geologic oil formation assisting in oil recovery and thereby improving oil production rate and estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) from the oil reservoir. The addition of nutrients causes resident microorganisms to become interactive with the oil in the oil reservoir causing changes to the wettability or permeability relative to oil in the subsurface oil field reservoirs. More particularly this invention contemplates a method of manipulating resident microorganisms in an oil reservoir to increase the recovery of oil through the addition of liquid nutrients to low salinity water prior to its injection into a water flooded reservoir.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a method of enhancing oil recovery of low salinity water flooding.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a method of oil recovery by causing changes in wettability or fluid relative permeability.
These and other objectives will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art based upon the following written description, drawing, and claims.